New Doily

I started another doily last week.  This one is Jan Stawazs' Doily X.  I'm only doing the center motif instead of the entire 15-20 inch doily.

I have completed the first two rounds in this picture and have two more rounds to go.  I really love the accent of color in the chain around the outside.  The outer-most chain of the fourth round will also be Garnet, with the rest of the doily in Ecru, in size 20.

 I plan on giving these doilies to family members for Christmas, along with a pillar candle and clear glass candle holder.  I have four doilies to make for Christmas presents.  I have already completed two and am half way through this third one.  After the 4th doily is complete, I can concentrate on making snowflake motifs as Christmas tree decorations.  It's never too early to start tatting for Christmas.  I'm hoping to save myself a lot of stress by getting the doilies done in the summer, since doilies are the most labor intensive.

Last Victorian Lady

I finished my last Victorian lady.  I'm over Victorian ladies for now.  It was just a phase.  But I must say this one is my favorite pattern.

Motif  # 6

 I love her full skirt.  I did the bottom layer in white to suggest petticoats.  I did her in red, white and blue to get rid of a lot of leftover thread from tatting American flags, so she is my patriotic Victorian lady.  I got this pattern here after seeing her on Marie's blog. The design is by Riet Surtel-Smeulders.
She's done in Lizbeth size 20.
Now it's on to crosses and doilies for Christmas presents.  I started my Christmas tatting in May this year so that I won't be so rushed this fall.  With a nice, cool, rainy day outside (very unusual for Texas in July), I hope to get some tatting done.

Doily finally finished

I finally finished the Jan Stawasz doily XII.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.  Not a single mistake.

 This is just one motif of the doily.  There are like 8 or 9 of these motifs tatted together to make a much larger doily.  But I know my limits.  There is no way I would have the patience to finish the entire doily.  Maybe at some future time when the kids are grown and the housework gets done by itself, I will have time to complete an entire Stawasz doily.  But for now, I am more than happy with this scaled down version. It measures about 7 inches across in size 20 Lizbeth white. Paradoxically, I tend to make fewer mistakes on a more complicated pattern than on a very simple one.  The split ring American flag pictured here was very repetitious and simple and I made several mistakes.  I think I just lose my concentration.  I certainly didn't lose my concentration on this doily.  Every picot had to be measured to perfection.  The pattern was not overly complicated, just a lot of little details to get right.

Happy 4th of July!!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday.

Victorian ladies

For some reason, I have been drawn to these little Victorian ladies lately.  I think they look so dainty and elegant and they are pretty quick to tat.

Motif # 5

 I found this little angel pattern here thanks to a post I saw on West Pine Creations.  I chose Lizbeth size 20 in Garnet and Ecru because I thought those colors looked kind of old fashioned.  The Ecru doesn't show up well in this picture, but it gives the little motif an antique look.  I did her hair in DMC Metallic Gold embroidery floss, a single strand.  It is very challenging to tat with metallic embroidery floss as it is not very tightly twisted.  I only had to make chains and join them to the picots of the head; luckily I didn't have to make any rings.  I don't know if it would have withstood pulling the core thread through to make a ring.

This little lady is from Contemporary Tatting by Judith Connors.

Motif # 6 and 7

She was a little more complicated that I expected.  The body was a bit confusing and the skirt joins directly to the chain of the body, not to picots, so it was hard to make it look neat.  I also went a little long on the parasol handle, so guess what?  She's flying a kite.  I call that artistic license.  The little tree is from the same book.  I plan on putting these two motifs in a frame and adding a tatted border. The thread was Lizbeth size 20 in Ocean Turquoise Dark for the lady and Island Breeze for the parasol.  The tree top is Jungle Greens and the trunk is Fudge Dark.